


One Last Roar

by DrStonegarden



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Gen, The Night's Watch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 02:11:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrStonegarden/pseuds/DrStonegarden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of the world, Jaime Lannister can call himself a true knight at last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Roar

Jon Snow says nothing when he arrives at Castle Black, all in white, like a ghost surrounded by the shadows of what black brothers remain and the dark furs of everyone else. Jaime's balls are freezing, but they don't need to know that.

"I wanted to be a knight. For the end of the world, at least."

The man-boy who keeps the Wall standing through sheer willpower alone is blank as winter most of the time, but there's a slight tightening around his eyes that might be approval.

 

**\- X -**

 

They're coming.

The red woman from Asshai who once served Stannis has seen it in her fires.

Little Bran Stark says so too, though Jaime can barely look at him. _Does he look for who pushed him through those trees of his?_ The boy sits on the back of that hulking stablehand on top of the Wall, seeing through a thousand eyes at once. Watching.

The rest of the Starks say so too. The children of winter need no greensight or Lord of Light to tell them when the Long Night is about to fall and the cold that birthed them in the Age of Heroes comes again.

 

**\- X -**

 

There's a stillness once everyone is up and ready. There is nothing more to be done, nothing more that can be done. Silence settles over Castle Black, except at the gate, where men frantically shovel stone and dirt and rubbish, anything to keep the enemy on the other side. It is not done. It will not be done until the end of the day, maybe the next. Lord Snow hopes they can keep the enemy from the foot of the Wall long enough to complete the burying of the tunnel and deny the enemy passage to the Seven Kingdoms.

They have all the obsidian Dragonstone had to offer and the hosts of all the great lords manning every inch of the Wall. If that isn't enough, then Jaime doesn't know what will be.

 

**\- X -**

 

Lord Snow's blubbery maester is on the verge of tears. Jaime only has to look at him to know he’s soft most of the time, but in this case he has good reason to be.

The Others have come.

Bran's ravens rise into the air as one, shrieking, and all along the Wall, men draw their bows.

Before him there's the pretty squire everyone calls Satin, and Theon Greyjoy, who can't hold a sword anymore but can put an arrow between a man's eyes at a hundred paces.

He's half mad, but he's a good shot, and that's what they need.

The wind rises, and it gets colder and darker though noon is barely upon them.

"Remember your name." He hears the maimed Greyjoy mutter absently, almost snatched away by the wind.

The huge man with the great beard and bands of gold on his arms spits curses that would stop the High Septon's heart, and the golden-haired woman they call the wildling princess drags Lord Snow in for a sloppy kiss. He's a crow through and through, and tries to pull away. At first.

It's the end of the world, after all.

Jaime looks away and tries not to think of Cersei.

 

**\- X -**

 

"Too many, too many!" The ravens caw.

Lord Snow and his best men take up their positions around the gate. They'll shoot anything that gets through, and once they run out of arrows they'll see whether Valyrian steel really can kill an Other.

Jaime's hand strays to the sword that was once half of great Ice, then the travesty that was Widow's Wail, and now with the spell-forged colours drained out and the vile embellishments sold off at the behest of Queen Sansa, just a sword of Valyrian steel.

"Get your men out of their, Yarwyck.” Snow orders the First Builder. “The gate will not be filled in time. We must trust to our arms now."

"No." Jaime hears himself say.

Lord Snow looks at him, and Jaime sees that he knows. He smiles. It's like a crack appearing in ice.

 

**\- X -**

 

"Come back for me, Jaime," Brienne begs him, though they both know there will be no coming back. Her embrace is bone-crushing, and everyone else is whistling or turning their backs to the Kingslayer's tender moment.

"I need that arm to hold my sword with, wench."

Brienne lets go and stares him down seriously.

"I shall follow you into the seven hells and slay you again if you do not return."

"I'll be sure to save my lady a seat by the fire."

They laugh together. If this is the last time he laughs, there's no-one he'd rather share it with.

"Come back to me, my white lion."

Would that he could.

 

**\- X -**

 

Lord Snow's sent in the giant to help block up the gate.

The barricade grows higher, and Jaime Lannister waits.

 

**\- X -**

 

They were right to let him through.

The white walkers come, and he knows a cold greater than any before. They laugh their hissing laughs. How dare he stand in the way of winter?

They die all the same, melting beneath his nameless blade.

"Ser Jaime! You can come out now!"

The giant hold a huge block stone above his head. There's a hole just big enough for him to squeeze through.

"I don't think so, Lord Snow. They'll just break it down again. The Others aren't like you and me; this stone will not hold them."

He's glad Brienne has gone to guard the younger Starks. But at the same time he wants her face to be the last he lays eyes upon, not the chilly man he has come to respect somewhat.

"The whole of the Seven Kingdoms will remember you for this." Snow whispers, quiet as his name.

Then the giant lowers the block, and Jaime Lannister stands between Wessteros and endless winter.

 

**\- X -**

 

"More of you."

He rolls his shoulders. No sense in letting himself getting seized up.

The white walkers pause when they see the puddles that mark the passing of their comrades.

"Yes, I can kill you. I am Ser Jaime Lannister, formerly of the Kingsguard. I am a monster or a great knight, depending on who you ask. I have killed children as easily as I have grown men. I fucked my sister. I got her with three bastards. Then I throttled her to save the realm, and now I'm here to save the realm again. They call me Kingslayer. I'm the White Lion. Now hear me roar."

 

**Fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a prompt on the ASOIAF Kink Meme, but I can't find it, Seven curse me.


End file.
